The Rantakylä School Centre, located in the city of Mikkeli, Finland has recently undergone a major audio upgrade with two Allen & Heath SQ digital mixing systems.
With around 700 students, the renovated school centre prides itself on providing the latest cutting-edge technologies. “When our huge renovation project started, it was clear in our minds that our audio system needed to be as accommodating and up-to-date as possible without compromising on an easy and intuitive user interface,” explained Juha Lindbohm, a music teacher at Rantakylä school. “As we have several event locations within the premises, the key requirements for us were: a reliable audio network, wireless control and integration with lighting and video.”
The school turned to Allen & Heath’s Finnish distributor, F-Pro, who recommended two identical systems featuring an SQ-6 equipped with a Dante card and an AR2412 AudioRack.
Connecting to the Dante network (via two Dante-enabled rack units in the auditorium entrance hall and the sports hall), an SQ system is positioned in one of the music rehearsal rooms, providing the option to link anywhere on the premises via network switches located in the tech room. Audio is then directed to multiple breakout points situated in the sports arena, auditorium and two adjacent music classrooms. Juha further utilises the SQ’s Dante card for multi-track recording of local school events.
The second SQ-6 setup is built into a flip case, which can be easily moved around the campus and used for a variety of events.
Juha continued: “We love the endless possibilities of our new digital system and there’s still so much to discover! I can say that the transition from analogue to digital has been a very positive surprise and SQ has made that very simple. Especially the wireless control offered by SQ’s MixPad app – it’s something that I now depend on daily.”
